I have to admit that I'm fairly new to the fantasy genre. I have been a fan of general fantasy for a while if you consider I'm draw to movies, tv shows, and games with that feel. Only recently have I started to read fantasy. When I read Eragon, I enjoyed it. I feel the same way as you do Mage. It was in fact "light and easy and fairly exciting". I too will continue reading the series just to get the whole story. Thought I have expanded my reading pallet since I have read it and in no way feel like it's original or even well conceived, it is entertaining and that's pretty much why I read anything in the first place.

I would like to say that it seems to me that originality is dead, all that is left is uniqueness. That being said, I thought Eragon was an appalling excuse for a book and it took me several attempts that spanned a few months to finish it. (I have a weird compulsion to finish something I start regardless of how bad it is) Even knowing how bad the first one was a friend convinced me to try the second one and I have to say it was a lot better, almost tolerable. With any luck the third one will have a similar jump in quality and will actually be decent.

I would like to say that it seems to me that originality is dead, all that is left is uniqueness. That being said, I thought Eragon was an appalling excuse for a book and it took me several attempts that spanned a few months to finish it. (I have a weird compulsion to finish something I start regardless of how bad it is) Even knowing how bad the first one was a friend convinced me to try the second one and I have to say it was a lot better, almost tolerable. With any luck the third one will have a similar jump in quality and will actually be decent.

I have to agree with you. The first book did seem extremely simple, especially for this genre. The second did get better and one can only hope the third will at least maintain and if all goes well, improve as well. I have a derivative of your problem in that I have to finish a series when I start it.

I have to agree with you. The first book did seem extremely simple, especially for this genre. The second did get better and one can only hope the third will at least maintain and if all goes well, improve as well. I have a derivative of your problem in that I have to finish a series when I start it.

WHAT? you mean the second book where they all started talking like pirates and the purple prose got even more purple.

You think its a better book when it was basically consisting of Eragon winges and moans and shaves and OH An entire chapter on Ants That was the best chapter. And He also gets given Deus Ex machina, to make him uber strong because heaven forbid he actually earns it.

So you're wishing book3 will have an entire chapter of him either shaving or watching Ants or other animals.... And getting special powers because he's da chosen one. Pulease. At least Book one was readable, despite its blatent copying and deriativeness. Eldest was basically a brick and a chore.

WHAT? you mean the second book where they all started talking like pirates and the purple prose got even more purple.

You think its a better book when it was basically consisting of Eragon winges and moans and shaves and OH An entire chapter on Ants That was the best chapter. And He also gets given Deus Ex machina, to make him uber strong because heaven forbid he actually earns it.

So you're wishing book3 will have an entire chapter of him either shaving or watching Ants or other animals.... And getting special powers because he's da chosen one. Pulease. At least Book one was readable, despite its blatent copying and deriativeness. Eldest was basically a brick and a chore.

Meh. Differing tastes for different people. That's the joy of fantasy. There is a book for everyone. I can see why those things could bother a reader. I'm not being critical in any way. Obviously they just didn't bother me as much as they did you.

Like I said a few posts up, "Thought I have expanded my reading pallet since I have read it and in no way feel like it's original or even well conceived, it is entertaining and that's pretty much why I read anything in the first place."

I have read much better books since I read them. Most of them were recommendations from this very forum.

I think I'm off now to write The Ga Dinci Mode. It should be a fresh idea for y'all.

Sounds like a goal.

Anyway, I'm off to write Lord of the Blings. Instead of Frodo - sorry, "Dodo" taking a ring to mount Doom, he's going to take some blings to Mount Tomb, with his faithful companion Sammie - not samwise.

Hehe, I bet thats the sort of thought that went through CP's head when he sat down to write Eragon. Except, it was Star Wars and LotR combined. Wow! A masterpiece this will turn out to be! thought a humble Christopher Paolini. You know, I might not be a good original writer, but I sure am good at ripping off other people's work! he would say to himself. And to this day, Paolini has further honed and perfected his supreme talent of ripping off other people's "precious". hehe, i even amused myself writing that. But seriously, Paolini's a great guy - he's just got to learn to create his own "preciouses".

I think I'm off now to write The Ga Dinci Mode. It should be a fresh idea for y'all.

Hahaha.

Originally Posted by Justin2209

I have to admit that I'm fairly new to the fantasy genre. I have been a fan of general fantasy for a while if you consider I'm draw to movies, tv shows, and games with that feel. Only recently have I started to read fantasy. When I read Eragon, I enjoyed it. I feel the same way as you do Mage. It was in fact "light and easy and fairly exciting". I too will continue reading the series just to get the whole story. Thought I have expanded my reading pallet since I have read it and in no way feel like it's original or even well conceived, it is entertaining and that's pretty much why I read anything in the first place.

Read some Erikson and Bakker and you'll be blown away not only by how amazing they are as novelists, but also by how terrible Paolini is.

Anthorn: Okay, I'll give you the "parents publishing book first was cheatting" debate, since if they hadn't then noone at Knopf would ever have seen the thing. Still, once it was published the public did speak, and they said "moooooore!!" I just think it's important not to underestimate how successful the series has been, despite it's less than fair publishing history. Besides, as Columbob says, publishing the book made the Paolinis lots of money and presumably also made them very very happy, and that cannot be a bad thing. Hey, if there was no Inheritance the half of the teen reading public that's not drooling zombie-like over Stephenie Meyer's books wouldn't have anything to read this fall.

I usually don't like coming into a debate and making absolute statements right away, but Eragon is so much better than Eldest it hurts. Derivative as it was, Eragon had a sense of adventure, as well as one or two characters who I thought had a lot of potential. If nothing else Eragon's plot had the story moving from place to place fairly regularly, [and if you think Eragon is a bad quest plot you should go check out David Bilsborough's The Wanderer's Tale from your library and stop ragging on Paolini in areas where he doesn't deserve it. Trust me: Eragon may not be good, but it can get a lot lot worse.] Eldest, though, ... The only thing that makes it readable at all is the broadening of the plot to include a few sections following characters who are not Eragon. Boring train-to-be-the-chosen-one plotline. Bad bad bad romance / infatuation subplot that eventually just gets impossible to read. Horrible confrontation with newly-minted villain that's not led up to at all and comes across as slavish aping of The Empire Strikes Back, [why it ends up looking like this is a spoiler.] And can you say looong? Bleh.

"Lord of the Blings", ... ha! And, based on past examples, we know where this can get you: You end up reviled by the fantasy category readers, ... whilst sitting atop a heap of gold and gems because the non-category readers love you so.
________married woman Cam

Read some Erikson and Bakker and you'll be blown away not only by how amazing they are as novelists, but also by how terrible Paolini is.

LOL. Well I just picked up Gardens of the Moon and I started The Darkness That Comes Before but put it down. I was good but I wasn't in the mood for it at the time. I'll certainly pick it up again. I personally feel Paolini is, at best, watered down fantasy and to see what he is a worst, you need only search the forums.

mjolnir: You make some good points. I think I "enjoyed" Eldest more because at the time my exposure to fantasy was limited. It did open up the plot and more happened. It felt more "complex" in that I was some place other than glued to Eragon, but to each there own.

I find it difficult to label a book. For me, good and bad are relative to the person reading it. If the reader is looking for simple entertainment or is simply younger, then this series may fit. But if the reader is looking for compelling and complex then I would recommend looking else where. But again those are just my opinions from my point of view so they are again relative. The fact that it got young readers to read or possibly introduced a new group of people to fantasy is a good thing. He is new to writing and the genre. I think the last few years have given us a surprising amount of great debut authors (Rothfuss, Abercrombie, Lynch, etc.). He just wasn't one of them.

Anyway, I'm not one to be argumentative and I'm not trying to come across that way (sorry if I did). I am one of those people that feel that all opinion's carry weight and we don't have to all agree all the time. Diversity is cool.

To answer the original poster more directly (lol), I'm not into them so to speak. I read them and they entertained me at the time. If you are looking for a recommendation I would ask about your exposure to fantasy. If you have much then you may find the books "difficult" (for reasons see the above posts lol).

I agree with mjolnir; Eragon is way better than Eldest. Eldest was Paolini's attempt at making a long, boring book. He's one of those authors who think it's cool to have a long book just because it's long. And guess what, it worked!

Justin, both books take a long time to get into, I think. The action in TDTCB only really picks up in the last like 50-100 pages (in my opinion), but for me there was enough intrigue to keep me hooked.

GOTM was exciting from the outset, but for some reason it just didn't click until page 200 or so.